Paris mosque urges Muslims to join ‘anti-terror’ protest

The Great Mosque of Paris today urged French Muslims to gather at the country’s most important mosque on Friday to say “No to terror” and “We are all Paris!”.

A statement called on “all Muslim citizens and their friends” to gather at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) to say “no to terror” and voice “their deep attachment to Paris, its diversity and the values of the Republic.”

The gathering of French Muslims after Friday prayers was “the best response to those seeking to instill the venom of discord and suspicion within the national community,” the statement added.

The rector of the Great Mosque earlier this week called on all French imams to lead the faithful in Friday prayers for the victims of the country’s worst ever terror attacks.

“We, Muslims of France, can only insist on the need for national unity in opposing this misfortune which has afflicted us and which attacks indiscriminately,” he said.

“We are all victims of this barbarity,” he said.

The suicide bombers behind Friday’s attacks on the national stadium, a packed music venue and bars and restaurants were “people who call themselves Muslims but who should, by rights, be called barbarians.